Co-author: Misato Matsuoka* There is a lot of buzz about U.S. rebalancing policy, but at the end of the day it is not a massive policy change from the U.S. perspective and neither is it one from the perspective of U.S. allies and partners, old and emerging ones, in the region. The increase of a...

Following on from Michal Thim’s ASW post, which contains the details of the deal, the Japanese media reaction has been illuminating, and it appears to be the number one story alongside North Korean missiles on most Japanese news sites. Something appeared to be stirring in late March when it was reported in the Japanese media...

Japan and Taiwan have signed a ground-breaking agreement on fishing rights that leaves China isolated in the territorial dispute over Senkaku/Diaoyutai islands. According to Taipei Times, major elements of the agreement are: intervention-free fishing zone for Taiwanese fishing boats in waters between 27° north latitude and the Sakishima Islands, Okinawa Prefecture; furthermore, Taiwan is given...

Deployment of the DH-10 land attack cruise missile (LACM), similar in design to the American BGM-109 Tomahawk and Russian KH-55, on Chinese warships could bring new meaning to gunboat diplomacy in the Asia-Pacific.

While the Western media has at times taken great delight in publishing somewhat fantastical stories about the influence that Japanese ‘nationalists’ hold over the contemporary Japanese imagination, China’s own home grown group with questionable interpretations of history for the most part seemed to escape the attention of analysts and journalists – until recently. Part of this...

Published in 1983, Strategic Atlas was one of several atlases published during the 1980s that blended world maps with political, economic and military figures and trends. It was the kind of well done set of infographics that really isn’t done anymore, particularly now that nobody wants to pay for content. I’ll be featuring maps from...

The temperature was turned up a little in diplomatic relations between China, Korea and Japan on the election of new Prime Minister Noda Yoshihiko earlier this week, with both Chinese and Korean media and government sources questioning the suitability of Noda’s thoughts on historical issues. The first thing that needs to be said is that...

Yuriko Koike: For Kan, the real priority during the nuclear crisis was his government’s effort to maintain its grip on power, not reassuring Japan’s neighbors of the actions it was taking to contain a potential threat to their citizens.

Tamogami wants Japanese rearmament. He wants a nuclear deterrent for Japan. He wants nuclear propulsion for ships. He wants cruise missiles. He wants aircraft carriers. In short, he wants all of the things many countries already have.

Last year was a busy year for Japan’s fly-boys, the ASDF, according to NHK today: The Defense Ministry said the Air Self-Defense Force conducted 386 emergency take-offs in the fiscal year that ended in March. That’s an increase of 87 from the previous fiscal year. Air Self-Defense Force jets were scrambled 264 times to ward...

Senkaku Islands and Takeshima Shu Watanabe, a DPJ member of the Upper House – and owner of what has to be one of the worst politician’s site in the modern day, will become the party’s first lawmaker to celebrate ‘Takeshima Day’, a festival designed to emphasize Japan’s claim over the Liancourt Rocks – Takeshima to...